Suspect says slaying started with fight

TUSCALOOSA | A murder suspect told homicide investigators that he fought with the victim over a drug deal gone bad, according to police testimony at a court hearing Friday morning.

During an interview after his July 16 arrest, Cody Reid McWilliams told police that Jayson Elmore wasn't happy with the quality of the gram of cocaine McWilliams had sold him, said Investigator Robert Davis. McWilliams said that he and Elmore fought in an alley behind the Bama Theatre, but that Elmore was alive when McWilliams left, Davis testified.

Davis an investigator with the TuscaTuscaloosa County Metro Homicide Unit, testified at the preliminary hearing in District Court that police did not find cocaine on Elmore's body.

Elmore, 40, was found dead in the alley between the Bama Theatre and Christ Episcopal Church on Sixth Street at about 2 a.m. July 12. He had been hit in the head with a board that was found on the ground near his body. His wallet had been stolen. Witnesses who were riding in a car with McWilliams that night said that he was 'scared, sweating and shaking,' Davis said. They told police that McWilliams, also known as 'Fat Mac,' said he 'had just stolen a white dude's wallet.'

McWilliams, during the police interview, said that he had been in the Yellowhammer bar on University Boulevard that night. His friend, a security guard at the bar, told him that Elmore had about $1,500 in his wallet and that he was planning to rob Elmore in the bathroom and kick Elmore out of the bar for disorderly conduct, Davis said.

McWilliams said that he wanted to see if Elmore wanted to buy marijuana or cocaine before that, Davis testified. McWilliams told officers that he was very drunk and that the two conducted the cocaine deal in Elmore's truck.Elmore wanted his money back after sampling the cocaine, McWilliams told the investigators, ansd that when he refused the two got out of the truck and started fighting. McWilliams told investigators that he hit Elmore with the board and that Elmore was still talking and trying to continue the fight as he left the alley. Davis testified that there was blood on the brick walls near the alley and on the board. He said that Elmore's wallet was missing and that Elmore had cashed his $400 paycheck from his construction job that afternoon.